DOGS AND HYDATIDS.

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVI, Issue 43102, 8 June 1907, Page 4

DOGS AND HYDATIDS.

Tho death of a child at Ballarat from hydatids and the supposition that the disease was communicated by a dog that the child had been in the habit_ of patting have served to make in bringing under notice in Melbourne the fact that in 1885 the Board of Health, by mean 3 of a circular to all municipalities, gave the public warning of the dancers of the disease being transmitted through dogs. The document called attention to the fact, that hydatid disease was on the increase, and that mapy live® were lost annually for want of care, Victoria being reported second to Iceland, where 28 per cent of the dogs were infected with the disease, which accounted for one-sixth of the human death-rate. People were warned against drinking water or eating vegetables to which dogs had access, and mention was made of the necessity of keeping dogs away from the sources, of water sur>o!y, water apparently quite pure being sometimes found to foe charged with the germs. Watercress taken from drains, and other uncooked vegetables, were pointed to as dangerous diet, and people were cautioned as to the cleansing of kennels and the ground near" them' and against allowing dogs to lick plates or the hands or face.